“NATO murderers, your hands are bloody!” continues to be a popular slogan on banners at rallies against the alliance in Montenegro.

Montenegro has officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, though not without vocal opposition, and has justified the move by drumming up false alarm about Russian interference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Monday.

A day earlier, Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic stated that Moscow had attempted to “interfere” in its “internal affairs,” given itsopposition to the NATO alliance.

“Russia openly interfered in our internal affairs, what we, of course, do not approve. Russia has been pursuing a policy of spheres of interest, opposing the expansion of NATO. We decided to define our main goals by ourselves, and we were surprised by how much Russia intervened,” the minister said, Sputnik reported.